Evolution of dance

Wednesday

Jan 7, 2009 at 12:01 AMJan 8, 2009 at 5:18 AM

Brooklyn bands have been making hipsters gyrate for the better part of a decade. Bear Hands, the latest rump-shaking rockers to emerge from across the bridge, are the latest step in a long evolutionary line.

Brooklyn bands have been making hipsters gyrate for the better part of a decade. Bear Hands, the latest rump-shaking rockers to emerge from across the bridge, are the latest step in a long evolutionary line.

Bands like Les Savy Fav and Enon were incorporating dance rhythms into post-punk before Y2K even struck. With the rise of DFA Records acts like The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem early this decade, the marriage of disco and punk became a dominant trend in the American underground.

DFA set a plumb line between abrasive skree and the embrace of pop, and various bands have dotted both sides. Recently, acts like Gang Gang Dance have taken Brooklyn dance-rock into uncharted waters, sewing patches from countless cultures into a global get-down.

Others, like MGMT, steered the dance-rock trend back toward pop. That's where we find Bear Hands, who make their Columbus debut at The Summit alongside The Pomegranates.

These latest breakout Brooklynites offer a lot for listeners who spent last year shaking their hips to "Electric Feel" and "Time to Pretend." But where those tracks drew heavily from psychedelic rock, Bear Hands' pop pedigree is tinted ever-so-slightly by '90s indie rockers like Pavement, Modest Mouse and ... wouldn't you know it, Les Savy Fav!

So show up to dance Sunday night, but also to see Brooklyn dance-rock come full circle.